John Allen was born on July 19, 1988. He grew up in a family that moved frequently, living in different states, including Pennsylvania, Texas, and Arizona.

On July 12, 2011, police were called to a home in Phoenix, Arizona. There, they discovered the body of ten-year-old Ame Lynn Deal inside a small plastic footlocker. She had died in her own urine and sweat. The footlocker was placed in a hot garage. An investigation revealed that she had suffocated. Heat exhaustion and dehydration were also factors that contributed to her death.

Ame had been living with her grandmother, her aunt, and several other children. They initially told the police that Ame had locked herself in the trunk while playing hide-and-seek. However, suspicions arose due to the condition in which Ame was found. She had bruises on her body and was very dirty. After further questioning, Sammantha Allen and her husband John Allen confessed to locking Ame in the footlocker. They claimed it was a punishment for taking a popsicle without permission.

Reports indicated that before being placed in the trunk, Ame had to perform physical exercises in extreme heat for over an hour. The footlocker itself was small, measuring less than three feet in length and only one foot in both width and depth. It had been locked with a padlock taken from the backyard fence.

After the confession, both Sammantha and John Allen were arrested on July 27, 2011. They faced multiple charges, including first-degree murder. The family members related to Ame's case were also arrested and charged with child abuse and kidnapping. The Allens had their bail set at $1 million each.

On August 10, 2011, they were formally indicted, and prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty for John and Sammantha Allen. They were found guilty of first-degree murder and were sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2017. Other family members received varying sentences for their roles in the abuse and neglect of Ame.